CARGREEN YACHT CLUB

The best little yacht club on the Tamar

We are looking forward to the new season of safe and fun activities on the water, with over 36 cadets aged 10-18 on the books and a boost of two new adult assistant instructors to last year's team. The club owns a fleet of modern training boats and operates to the high RYA standards as inspected yearly by an independent examiner.

On Friday 15th March we presented our RYA Awards for the 2018-19 season.

We are looking into opportunities for Adult dinghy sailing instruction, at this time there two plans:

1. A club RS Vision will be entered in the Wednesday "White Sail Challenge", led by David Ford one of our dinghy Instructors, he is looking for adult volunteers who would like the sailing experience. This gentlemanly racing will be against other dinghies and yachts, noting that a dinghy of similar size won the series last year. Please contact David Ford if you are interested.

2. Adult Dinghy instruction led by Senior Dinghy Instructor Mick Flanagan, this will take place on Friday nights alongside Cadets and will consist of theory and practical tuition as hulls are available. If you are interested please contact Mick Flanagan.

The annual 'Clean-Up Day' is nearly upon us. Please support the Club by coming along with your favourite tools or just yourselves to tackle the numerous annual tasks that are necessary to keep the clubhouse and grounds in good condition and ready for the coming season. Cleaning materials and some tools will be available.

The date is Saturday 6th April from 0930 to lunchtime. A pasty lunch will be provided to all workers and the bar will be available.

Immediately after the work is done there will be a Boat Jumble. The Club has generously been given a quantity of boating items to sell and members are welcome to bring their own unwanted boating gear as well.

Many hands will make light of the work so, please support your Club on the 6th of April.

Red diesel, good or evil?

With Brexit ….. (fill in outcome of choice) the issue of red diesel comes alive again. Out of the EU we can choose whether to maintain it or not as we are not obliged to harmonise fuel duty rates. If we stay in, or partly in as members of a customs union or single market the EU will increase pressure on us to remove the entitlement of pleasure craft to ride on the back of a benefit intended for commercial and fishing craft. The government and the RYA has fought hard to keep red diesel because of the administrative and financial difficulties of maintaining supplies of two types of diesel at pumps in remote parts of the country. White diesel would be almost unobtainable at sensible prices outside major boating centres.

Many yachtsmen feel the EU has a point about the misuse of red diesel, including about half the members of the RYA.

Antifouling responsibly

Pressure is growing on yachtsmen to take more care during the spring slap-on of biocides on the bottoms of their boats. Run-off from old antifouling and spillages of new undoubtedly harm the environment when they leech into the sea. However, as a proportion of the total leech of poisons into the water from antifouling over a season the problem is comparatively minor.

Be that as it may, we should make efforts to ensure any run-off from pressure washing or sanding is retained ashore or fed into a recovery tank. On a slipway use a thick rope as a boom and sweep up antifouling dust or scrapings for safe disposal; don’t wash off more than the actual fouling if antifouling against a wall or piles; apply as little new antifouling as possible; use as low strength as possible; consider using an alternative antifouling such as Teflon, silicon, vinyl or ultrasound; dispose of brushes, trays, etc as hazardous waste.

Nanny says!

Do you have a bright idea about disposing of old boats?

If you do, your fortune could be made because nobody else does. Yes, there are plenty of ways of destroying old boats – fire, sinking and burial have all be suggested. The problem is each solution deeply unsound environmentally or it costs too much. GRP is almost unrecyclable and it’s worse if the hull is coated in antifouling. Resin impregnated wood is also highly toxic

Areas such as the West Country are in the front line of the battle against abandoned old tore-outs because as boats lose their value they move down the food chain from the wealthy South East to the more penny conscious extremities, finally running out of value on remote moorings, up creeks and on the mud flats of the remoter parts of the East Coast and far West.

Here at the CYC we have had a taste of the problem and know how much it can cost to dispose of an unwanted wreck.

This website uses cookies to allow navigation around the site. By using and further navigating this website you accept this. See the Home > Privacy page for more details of personal information used by linked sites.